Thursday, May 17, 2007

CD of the Day, 5/17/07: The Sunday Drivers-Tiny Telephone

In my book, Brad Jones is pretty much God. Who is Brad Jones, you ask? Maybe the greatest pop/rock producer working these days. He produced my #1 disc of last year, Bob Evans' Suburban Songbook. He produced my #3 disc of 2005, Josh Rouse's Nashville. He also produced David Mead's Tangerine, and oh yeah, some disc called Kontiki by this band called Cotton Mather. Not to mention his work in the Nashville power pop mafia with Bill Lloyd and others. So when Brad Jones produces a new album, I take notice, and he's lent his considerable talents to Tiny Telephone, the new disc by the Spanish band The Sunday Drivers. And while not another Kontiki or Suburban Songbook, it's a great listen nonetheless.

The operative sound here is mid-tempo roots pop, somewhere in between Evans on Suburban Songbook and Josh Rouse. I also hear some Tom Petty as well as strong similarities to The Latebirds' Radio Insomnia (a Brad Jones album without Brad Jones if there ever was one). Things start off nicely with "Rainbows of Colours", which has a kind of dreamy feel to it (as might be expected from the title) and features a great minute or so instrumental outro that really makes the track. "She" is next, and if there ever was a more obvious lost Josh Rouse track out there, I'm not sure you'd be able to find it (melodically, it reminds me quite a bit of Rouse's best song ever, 1972's "Rise"). "Do It" is the first single off the album, and its driving guitar sound is where the Tom Petty comparisons come in. Other standouts include the languid "Paranoid", the poppy "Sing When You're Happy" (which doesn't wear out its welcome despite being 5:30 long), and the hand-clapping, foot-stomping "Day In Day Out". It hasn't been released in the USA yet (perhaps never, who knows?), but it's a not-terribly-expensive-for-an-import $18 at the Amazon link below.